Barclays Introduces ETFs

October 26, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Barclays Global Investors has announced that three international regional iShares exchange funds (ETFs) have begun trading on the American Stock Exchange.

The new funds are the:

  • iShares S&P TOPIX/150 Index Fund
  • iShares S&P Latin America 40 Index Fund
  • iShares MSCI Pacific Ex-Japan Index Fund.

Barclays also said its iShares Goldman Sachs Natural Resources ETF will begin trading on the AMEX. That fund tracks the Goldman Sachs Natural Resources index, a market capitalization-weighted index of 112 stocks designed to measure the performance of companies in the natural resources sector.

The sector includes energy, precious metals, and timber.ETFs are index funds that are bought and sold like common stocks on national securities exchanges as well as certain foreign exchanges.

Because iShares can be traded like stocks, they offer intraday liquidity. The liquidity of iShares is driven by the liquidity of the underlying securities. So, as long as the stocks in the portfolio can be easily bought and sold, supply and demand requirements can be met.

Similar to many index funds, iShares are designed to have relatively low portfolio turnover. That reduces transaction costs incurred to the fund and minimizes capital gains distributions to investors.

Barclays Global Fund Advisors will manage the new iShares.

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